BIOLOGY. 289 



united with Australia in rocent geological periods, he thinks they 

 were much nearer than at present. Though Bali is separated 

 from Lombok by a strait only 15 miles wide, the animals are very 

 different, those of the former having an Asiatic, and of the latter 

 an Australian type. 



EPIORNIS. 



At the time of the discoveiy of the immense egg of this bird in 

 Madagascar in 1851, M. I. Geoffroy St. Hilaire placed the bird 

 near the brevipinnate or ostrich family ; but Valenciennes, from 

 the study of the same specimens, thought it belonged near the 

 penguins ; after him Brianconi maintained that it was a rapacious 

 bird near the condors, and probably the "roc" of Marco Polo. 

 Recently the bones of the lower extremity have been found, the 

 examination of which confirms the original opinion of St. Hilaire. 

 The tibia is remarkable for the exceptional enlargement of the 

 articular extremities ; the length being 64 centimetres, the cir- 

 cumference of the upper end is 45, of the lower 38, and of the 

 shaft only 15^ in its narrowest part. It has no bony bridge over 

 the groove of the extensor muscle of the toes ; this is the case in 

 the brevipinnates, except Dinornis and Palapteryx ; the foot 

 is much more massive than in D. elephantopus . The size of the 

 femur is extraordinary, its length, however, being less than one and 

 one-half times that of its lower extremity. Behind and above the con- 

 dyles is a very deep fossa, in which are the large orifices for the en- 

 trance of airinto the interior of the bone, not found in Apteryx and 

 Dinornis. The vertebrae indicate that the body of Epiornis was 

 much more bulky than that of Dinornis. It resembles Dinornis 

 more than any other genus, yet is distinct, especially in its mas- 

 sive form and large feet; its height was less than that of Dinor- 

 nis, not exceeding that of a large ostrich, or about two metres, 

 while the Dinornis attained a height of 3 metres ; but it was much 

 more bulky. Beside the E. maximus, others have been found, one 

 of the size of the cassowaiy, and another of the size of the large 

 bustard. There were then in Madagascar several species of large 

 terrestrial birds, analogous to the Dinornis and its congeners in 

 New Zealand. — Comptes Bendus, Oct, 11, 1869. 



APHANAPTERYX ; AN EXTINCT BIRD OF MAURITIUS. 



M. Alph. Milne-Edwards, in "Comptes Rendus," April 12, 

 1869, describes the bones of this bird, found in the island of Mau- 

 ritius with the remains of the dodo and the gigantic gallinule. It 

 is not a gallinaceous bird, nor does it belong to the apteryx 

 group ; it is neither a rail proper, but comes near the genus 

 Ocjjdromus, of Australia. The bill was pointed, of dense tissue, 

 somewhat like that of the gallinule, but more resembling that of 

 the oyster-catcher, and well suited for brc^aking the shells and re- 

 sisting envelopes of the molluscs, on which it probably fed. The 



25 



